Pakistan

Saluting time

ONCE again, the army has pulled rank in Pakistan, a country it has ruled, directly or indirectly, for most of its 50 years of independence. This time it was to intervene in a bitter row in which the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, has locked horns with the judiciary and the president. Although Mr Sharif was elected in February with a large majority in parliament, he has never felt particularly safe. He was ousted as prime minister by presidential decree in 1993, as was his successor, Benazir Bhutto, a year ago. Since resuming power, Mr Sharif has spent much of his time trying to strip both the courts and the president of their powers to sack prime ministers.

In the latest battle, Mr Sharif and the chief justice, Sajjad Ali Shah, have clashed over who has the final word in appointing judges to the Supreme Court. The court has challenged some of the legislation that Mr Sharif's government has introduced, including a law that strips the president of his powers to dismiss governments.

On November 19th the Supreme Court charged Mr Sharif with contempt for remarks he had allegedly made about the judiciary. If convicted, the prime minister would lose his job. Mr Sharif asked the president, Farooq Leghari, to sign a bill that had been rushed through parliament. The bill would allow Mr Sharif to appeal if he were convicted. The president, however, refused to sign it immediately. Mr Sharif then threatened to introduce a motion in parliament to impeach the president.

It was at this point that the army stepped in. The chief of staff, General Jehangir Karamat, persuaded both sides to accept a cooling-off period. Military spokesmen say the general acted in “the national interest” and deny that his intervention was, as some commentators have claimed, to gain some sort of power-sharing agreement. That may be right. General Karamat is widely seen as having no political ambitions. He is more committed to democracy than any previous general in the country's history. Indeed, it is probably the second time this month that General Karamat has intervened to cool tempers. Though officially unconfirmed, many senior officials and western diplomats believe that it was General Karamat who persuaded Mr Sharif to back down three weeks ago in the dispute over the appointment of judges.

The cooling-off period, however, is coming to an end. On November 26th, a regional court suspended the chief justice. Though Mr Shah was having none of it—he immediately overturned the decision—other courts are due to start hearing cases as both sides resume the battle. The general may have to turn up the air conditioning.